[News] Sportsnet signs 12 year $5.2 billion for NHL CDN Broadcast rights.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

so much fake anger and drama over this deal...and in the end every single one of us will still be sitting here watching no matter how good or bad the production values are.

I grew up in the era when the only choice was channel 2&7 for Flames games, sometimes.

So did I. And even then the quality of the broadcast was better than Sportsnet. Scotty Bowman, Harry Neale, and John Davidson as colour guys? Way better.

See, I don't have to watch a Flames game just because it's broadcast. Lots of burden on my time these days. If the game is dull and badly produced, I can easily find something else to do, even put the game on the radio in the background.

[evman150]

tsn.ca has been down for over three hours. Odd coincidence.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Alternatively, you don't spend $5.2 billion and have alot of money left lying around.

Furthermore, the point of establishing a monopoly is to increase profits, not improve the product.

[theoforever]

Originally Posted by evman150

tsn.ca has been down for over three hours. Odd coincidence.

hmm, works fine.....

[flames_fan_down_under]

Crazy. I don't know how I feel about this. The guys calling Sportsnets game aren't as good as the guys working for TSN or CBC, in my opinions. Rob Kerr is especially bad.

Weird to think TSN won't be showing any hockey and its going to be 100% Sportsnet.

Why couldn't Rogers spend that money on Cano, Garza, and McCann?

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by SebC

HNIC no longer generates revenue (and more importantly/accurately, income) for CBC. Right now HNIC makes money for CBC. Under the new deal, CBC is basically loaning out their channel to Rogers, and all the profit goes to Rogers.

Even if CBC had kept the broadcast rights, the increase in broadcast fees would mean less profit for CBC. That's bad for Canadians, because we're all effectively CBC shareholders. (Rogers shareholders, though, may net positive.)

Are you actually suggesting that the partnership agreement CBC entered into with Rogers, was one that loans out their channel for free to Rogers to use to broadcast Saturday Night hockey? Not likely.

CBC doesn't enter into a partnership that they feel would be ROI negative for them, so entering into this deal with Rogers wasn't done for ####s and giggles, it was done because it was seen as the best way for them to make money off the new contract. Likely clear to them they wouldn't have won the bid, but found a way to keep a piece of the pie through the partnership, otherwise there is no point to doing it. There is no way CBC has entered into a 12 year arrangement without thinking it will make them money, there is 0 point otherwise.

[evman150]

Originally Posted by theoforever

hmm, works fine.....

Weird. Not working for me, and "isitdownrightnow.com" says it's been down for 3+ hours.

Edit: www.tsn.ca works - tsn.ca does not, and hasn't for 3 hours. Very weird. I'm no tech expert - I wonder why the shortlink only would stop working?

[Rubicant]

I hope snet changes how they limit the crowd noise if I have to watch their broadcasts until 2026.

[lifetimefan]

This just in: TSN has purchased 1,000,000 loud, clicking toys to give to fans seated just below the press box. They plan to issue these game mementos starting next year.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by pylon

Wow, the SNET hate here is pretty misguided. TSN has never given any focus to the west, and we got nothing but table scraps. The same could be said to a certain degree about HNIC. You all should be happy, the good guys that actually give a crap about the west, and have our broadcasting rights won. I will take mediocre comprehensive coverage on SNET any day of the week, over glancing 'whatever' coverage that looks pretty from TSN any day of the week.

Save the complaining until we see what SNET has to offer next season. But at the end of the day, this was BY FAR, the better result for the western teams.

Not really. National broadcasts won't have much more to do with Western teams no matter who's doing them. The viewers are out East. That didn't change today.

It remains to be see if the comprehensive pre-and-post coverage on SN will be any different than the Faceoff with the Flood re-runs and throws to the sub-standard Connected hosts and terrible Hockey Central panels we get regionally. Hopefully it improves. And it should. SN is getting "the hate" in here because it puts out a poor product.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Are you actually suggesting that the partnership agreement CBC entered into with Rogers, was one that loans out their channel for free to Rogers to use to broadcast Saturday Night hockey? Not likely.

CBC doesn't enter into a partnership that they feel would be ROI negative for them, so entering into this deal with Rogers wasn't done for ####s and giggles, it was done because it was seen as the best way for them to make money off the new contract. Likely clear to them they wouldn't have won the bid, but found a way to keep a piece of the pie through the partnership, otherwise there is no point to doing it. There is no way CBC has entered into a 12 year arrangement without thinking it will make them money, there is 0 point otherwise.

CBC didn't enter into a 12 year arrangement. Rogers did. HNIC is involved as a sub-license of that deal, and only for four years. These details were widely reported today. I'm not sure what you're disputing here.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Are you actually suggesting that the partnership agreement CBC entered into with Rogers, was one that loans out their channel for free to Rogers to use to broadcast Saturday Night hockey? Not likely.

CBC doesn't enter into a partnership that they feel would be ROI negative for them, so entering into this deal with Rogers wasn't done for ####s and giggles, it was done because it was seen as the best way for them to make money off the new contract. Likely clear to them they wouldn't have won the bid, but found a way to keep a piece of the pie through the partnership, otherwise there is no point to doing it. There is no way CBC has entered into a 12 year arrangement without thinking it will make them money, there is 0 point otherwise.

Did you watch the press conference?



Go to about 3 minutes in. The head of the CBC states pretty clearly that they are paying Rogers nothing and Rogers will receive all the revenue from the HNIC broadcasts. All that the CBC is getting out of this is something to fill their air waves on Saturday nights (and during the playoffs) and a platform on which to promote their other programming to Canadians who otherwise wouldn't be watching CBC on a Saturday night (or likely ever).

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

I'm sure this has been re-hashed over and over again, but I just don't think I'll be able to find the answer in the 30+ pages in this thread.

In this article by Cam Cole, he says:

The agreement puts an end to regionalization of games and local blackouts, promises a marquee matchup every Sunday, and guarantees that viewers on Saturdays will get every game, either on CBC or one or another of Sportsnet’s properties or partners.

So I don't have to buy Centre Ice next season? I just have to be subscribed to Sportsnet West through Telus?

Any help would be great. Thanks ya'll.

[Dagger]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

I'm sure this has been re-hashed over and over again, but I just don't think I'll be able to find the answer in the 30+ pages in this thread.

In this article by Cam Cole, he says:



So I don't have to buy Centre Ice next season? I just have to be subscribed to Sportsnet West through Telus?

Any help would be great. Thanks ya'll.

I think it's if you have Centre Ice that you won't be blacked out of any games.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

I'm sure this has been re-hashed over and over again, but I just don't think I'll be able to find the answer in the 30+ pages in this thread.

In this article by Cam Cole, he says:



So I don't have to buy Centre Ice next season? I just have to be subscribed to Sportsnet West through Telus?

Any help would be great. Thanks ya'll.

Regionalization in this context refers to CBC splitting it's national broadcast signal on Saturday nights when multiple Canadian teams are playing. You know, that kind of thing where Quebec gets Montreal, Ontario East gets Leafs, Manitoba west gets Jets because all three games are on at once? That goes away. Under this new deal, Habs are on one channel. Leafs are on another. Jets are on another. All games are available nationwide. You as the viewer choose which game you watch.

Regional TV deals are still in place. People living out of market for regional TV deals do not get to see the regional games without Centre Ice, or the reported/rumored Rogers pay product which will show Rogers out of market games for Canadian teams only.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by Dagger

I think it's if you have Centre Ice that you won't be blacked out of any games.

No, that's not right either. Nationally available games or regionally available games will still be blacked out.

[flames_fan_down_under]

So now that Rogers has exclusive rights to Blue Jays and all NHL games what does TSN broadcast besides CFL and Raptors? They will need to pick up more EPL games, more NFL, some MLB content (does Rogers have exclusive broadcasting rights for MLB in Canada as well?).

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

So I don't have to buy Centre Ice next season? I just have to be subscribed to Sportsnet West through Telus?

Any help would be great. Thanks ya'll.

No one is quite sure what that means yet.

Based on what was said today, Rogers will have national exclusivity for all Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday night games, and any games played on those nights featuring a Canadian team will be available nationwide on one or more Rogers' property (or CBC for Saturday nights) with no regional restrictions or blackouts.

As I understand it, there will still be regional games on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, and they may still be subject to out-of-region blackouts. However, there have also been suggestions that Rogers may offer some sort of package through the cable companies that will allow people to subscribe to all the regional SN channels with no blackouts for a price point that is lower than Centre Ice.


Like they said, this is day one of a twelve year deal. Not all of the details have been worked out.

[KOgear]

So can tsn giveback the HNIC song back to cbc now that they aren;'t showing any NHL hockey.

[liamenator]

Just to add to the correctives about CBC above, the other net benefit for agreeing to this 'partnership' is that they won't have to layoff their entire staff, assuming that Rogers keeps a large chunk of the existing HNiC labour infrastructure. Their choice was either A) become a glorified Sportsnet platform for 4 years, preserve the HNiC brand, advertise its other programming during the marquee NHL match-up each week, and save people's jobs, or B) cease to exist entirely as of July 2014.